RIP, Stephanie Tubbs Jones

[Berry Cool]

Aw, crap.

For the second time this summer, I find myself having to express sadness at the death of a person I've had a bad thing or two to say about here.

But, as with Tim Russert, this is not a time to remember the bad stuff about my congresswoman.

It is, rather, a time to point out that even though she was a Hillary loyalist for a long time, she did eventually get on board with Obama in the end. She just didn't live long enough to see him nominated, which would have been a milestone for her race (the human race) and which I think, deep in her heart, she would have been pleased to see, despite her initial Hillary support. Damn, she missed it by not much more than a freakin' week.

It is a time to point out that I never had to worry about whether she was going to vote the way I wanted her to on anything, including FISA, because she always did.

There is an irony to this having happened today of all days, because of a coincidental situation I won't mention here (I value my privacy too much, what's left of it, and I'll be damned if I'll see an Olbermann Watch boy take it away). But, there you have it.

She was here, just driving along, last night, and now--poof--like that, she's gone.

RIP, Ms. Tubbs Jones, and my deepest condolences to your loved ones.